Hi. I am looking for people to who would like to kindly take a few minutes and take part in my little project. What I am looking for is simple. I am looking for people who speak different languages to take part in this.

I am compiling a list of the different ways to say "HELLO" in many different languages. As you know, in most languages there are different ways to say "hello" depending on who it is to, where you are, what time of the day, if you are staying or going and so on.

It's too easy simple to give the translations. I want people who are interested in writing down a full explanation and examples. In the end, I will have a neat little compiled list that I will put up in a web page.

If you choose to help out, I will announce the web as soon as I have it all compiled.

Posted: Thu May 01, 2003 3:45 am Post subject: Just Out of Curiosity,What is the Purpose of This "Proj

You are not trying to get a bunch of us to basically write a term paper or research paper for you,are you? People might be more willing to take the time and participate in your "project" if they knew what you are going to do with the results.

Hi. I'm not writing a term paper. I am just compiling this and I hope to put it up on a web page. I'm a teacher and not interested in publishing papers or anything like that. It's just a hobby and something of interest to me. I only speak a couple of languages and am interested in knowing more about others. I hope that people will believe this and enjoy sharing their knowledge of languages here. Of course, I will put the name of any author who replies to this in the web page along with what they submit.

Okey-dokey.I will give you one: "Labas rytas"(also means Good morning or good day).Lithuanian expression.Often shortened to just "Labas".Also,when you are getting ready to eat,the Lithuanians say "Skaunas"...which means "enjoy it".Sorry,but I am not able to give you detailed etymology on the expressions.Good luck with your project.

In Italian:
- "Buon giorno" ('good morning') followed by an honorific. Mention of name of the person addressed is optional.
And, at the other end of the day it is "buona sera" in greeting, and "buona notte" for "good night".
"See you again" is "arrivederci!"
Note how these Italian syllables lend themselves to a truly temperamental outburst

In French:
- "Bonjour!" followed by "Monsieur", "Madame", Mademoiselle" (yes, yes, this old-fashioned honorific is still in use in France!); what is interesting is that French never add the name of the person thus addressed! They do address children differently, though:
Either they add the first name of the child, or they use an endearing term ("bonjour ma petite-cherie...". The French show their affection for children very openly!).
In the afternoon, it is 'bonjour!" or "bon apres-midi", although this latter expression is not very common.
"Bon soir!" in the evening, and 'bonne nuit!" when people go to bed!
But in everyday situations, people are less formal: "Salut, mon ami!" is very acceptable!

Germany:
- "Guten Morgen" or "guten Tag!". SOund harsh to Germans without a name added. Between friends, it is "gruess dich, ... (first name of the person addressed)".
This expression can be used throughout the day.
Interesting, in the Catholic SOuth, especially in Bavaria, they use a highly pious "Gruess GOtt, Herr/Frau... (name of the person addressed)".
The Austrians add one notch of pompusness by addressing females as "gnaedige Frau..." ('honourable Lady").

Evening: "Guten Abend..." and Good night: "Gute Nacht!"

I like the Arab greeting for its ominous simplicity: "Salaam-aleikum..." whereupon the opposite number will say "Aleikum salaam!"
In Israel, it is common to greet someone by saying "Shalom!"

And in China?
What a waste of study efforts:
- "Cao san hao!" ("Good morning")
"Wanshang hao!" (Good evening")
To which you can add "Xiaowu hao" ("Good afternoon").
Waste? Yes - hardly any Chinese use such polite language! At the most, they produce a "ni hao!" Even the more formal "Nin hao!" (that roughly corresponds to the old English "you" when people of lower classes and children would be addressed as 'thou") is virtually extinct.
And, have you ever heard a shopkeeper say 'zai jian?" ("see you again?")

"Selam alekum" - Used mostly amongst the older generation or islamists these days.
"Selam" - short version of the above.
"Merhaba" - Just a general hello. Sometimes you hear "Merhabalar".
"Ne haber" - Means "what news". Something like "What's up?". Used a lot amongst the new generation.
"Ne var, ne yok" - Means "What is there, what isn't there?" Don't hear it all that much to be honest.
"Iyi günler" - Good day
"Günaydin" - Good morning
"Iyi aksamlar" - Good evening.
"Allo", "Efendim" - Mostly used on answering the phone.

In Russian, the informal "hello" is: "Privyet!" and is pronounced "pree-vyet" with a slight stress on the first syllable.

In Tagalog (the native language of the Philippines) they generally use "Good Morning, Afternoon, or Evening" as follows:

Good morning = Magandang Umaga - *
Good day = Magandang Hapon - *
Good evening = Magandang Gabi - *
*Adding "po" at the end of the above expressions is the honorific form, i.e, Magandang Umaga Po = the formal "Good morning", which you would say to an elder or stranger of equal age that you met for the first time.

In Romanian, the casual, every-day "hello" is actually "How are you?" There are 2 forms:

the informal = "Chay mai fach?"
the formal = "Chay mai fachets?"

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NOTE: For languages like Russian, Korean, Japanese and Chinese, et al ... which do not use Latin characters, your biggest challenge will be getting these greetings into a phonetically spelled form which will allow casual readers to pronounce them correctly.

In the above examples for Romanian, the "ch" is pronounced like the "ch" in chips. The "ay" like the "ay" in "say". The "ai" like the "y" in "my".

In the above examples for Tagalog: the letter "a" in all of the examples is short, as in "father". The "i" in Gabi is pronounced like our "ee", and the "U" in Umaga is pronounced like the "oo" in "food".

Last night when I went home, I remembered a VERY good link which would be helpful to you with your "Hello-in-many-languages" project.

When you click on the link below, WAIT for the page to fully load; then scroll down to the bottom of the page, where you will see the National flags of almost 100 different countries.

Click on the country of your choice, and Voila! You will now see several categories, including 'basic words'. Click on that, and you will find exactly what you're looking for. There is also a 'sound file' so you can actually HEAR how the words are pronounced.

This is a FREE website, so be prepared for annoying ad banners and a couple of pop-ups. That's the price you pay for getting this stuff for free.